Move Along
by BlueStar29
Summary: One night while trying to deal with the terrible guilt that Toothless can't help but feel, he tracks a scent that leads to a ... New dragon! They meet and form an instant dislike for each other. Because of this, Toothless is adamant about keeping her a secret from all others, especially Hiccup. But he can't seem to fight the pull in his heart that keeps bringing him back to her.
1. Chapter 1

_Hi there! Okay, so a few things:_

_1) I know I promised to have this up early last month, but last month was stressful. I had something with school called "Portfolio Day," where college recruiters from across the country come to look at our work. Had a lot to do in only a month. But I got some good reviews, so go me! I also switched jobs. I know, perfect timing, right? So last month was doubly stressful to me._

_2) You might find some things in this story that (may or may not) tie in with my other story,_ Bittersweet Reunion_. I am still debating on whether or not I want these two stories to tie together. So some ideas you might recognize, others are things I thought about after posting _Bittersweet Reunion_. Maybe you can help me come to a decision._

_3) I tried to keep the animalistic nature of the dragons, while also taking a look into their world through a … well, a human's eye. To truly keep the animalistic nature of the dragons, it took me a long time to get past the fact that I couldn't be **COMPLETELY** accurate. If I do that, than I'll have to take names out of the equation completely. Animals identify each other by scent; names are a human thing. But that's thinking about things WAY too much. I've been told that I over think things, and that I'm too literal.(Sarcastically) Forgive me for trying to make my stories feel as real as possible.__  
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_4) I know that some may not agree with some of the ideas in here, but I put up with your ideas all the time. This page is my dominion, so you can bear it the way I have with others. That being said, I know that some ideas will leave readers with questions, but if you would like to have those questions answered, you'll just have to come back for later chapters for those answers ^_^_

_So, now that all that has been said-er, written, Allow me to introduce the first chapter of _Move Along_ (could not come up with a better title … Subject to change)_

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Something New<strong>

* * *

><p>Life on the tiny island of Berk had gotten so much … busier since about a year ago. At least, this was what the resident human expert, a black dragon named Toothless, felt.<p>

Ever since the _Great Alpha Battle_, as the residents of Berk had dubbed it, the island had been more crowded with extra dragons; and now that Toothless was Alpha it was his job to make sure every dragon living on the island of Berk was safe and getting along.

The months after the _Great Alpha Battle_ were particularly stressful. Toothless' best friend, the human leader, Hiccup, had finally made things official with his long-time mate, Astrid. It took a good six years, but it finally happened (_Toothless owed Stormfly a gut-full of fish since he had lost their wager on how long it would take Hiccup to finally make a move_).

Humans had such a funny way of celebrating a mating. They insisted on holding some kind of ritual called a "wedding." It was quite complicated with its various stages. One: starting with a gift from Hiccup and his mother to Astrid's family. Two: the reciting of an oath by both parties. Then the final stage: a three-day feast (_where more oaths were recited_). The only part of this whole ritual that Toothless really understood was that Hiccup had asked him to stand by his side through the entire thing. The initial ceremony was not too bad, what with all the food. The only down side was that Toothless and Hiccup's mother, Valka had to spend the next three nights at Gobber's house.

Not even two moon cycles later Astrid announced that she was pregnant with their first offspring. Toothless was quite amazed. Because Hiccup's small and lean form had been through so much in six years—including a few accidental crashes into some unfortunate low-hanging branches—Toothless had made a wager with himself whether or not Hiccup was capable of producing offspring or not. He definitely took the news better than his rider, that was for sure. Toothless had to react quickly to catch Hiccup from hitting the hard ground when he had fallen from fainting.

Nine months later, the newlyweds were the proud parents of a beautiful baby girl that they had named, Skyla. Valka had mentioned that if Hiccup had turned out to be a girl, her late husband, Stoic the Vast, had been very fond of the name Skyla. So that was how the baby girl received her name.

Toothless took immediately to the newborn. He loved her so much! Everything about her was new and unusual to Toothless. He had never been around human babies before, at least not for very long. The noises she made and the look of wonder in her eyes drew a protective instinct out from the large, black dragon. He could not wait until she was old enough go flying.

Between the new family, the added residents and their new jobs, Hiccup and Toothless were very busy. It was hard to see each other for longer than a few minutes during the daytime. Yes, they would see each other at night for a quiet evening at home, or a last minute flight, but most of the time the two were very exhausted.

Toothless thought about just how far their lives had floated from each other. He sat on the highest cliff on the island. This spot gave him the best few; he was able to see everything from that spot. The black dragon watched as Hiccup tried to settle a dispute from the town center. Toothless let out a low, grumbling sigh. His gaze drifted to different activities in both the village and the sky. His ear twitched at the sudden sound of wings flapping and something land next to him. He immediately knew who it was.

"I have been looking all over for you, Your Grace.

Toothless growled softly. "Would you stop calling me that?! It's weird!" Toothless never could get used to fancy titles like that. Every dragon called him "Your Grace" now, even his comrades. But there were some dragons, like this giant orange quad-winged dragon for example, that called him that title just to get under his scales.

"Apologies, Your Grace." Cloudjumper replied in a mocking tone with an equally mocking bow.

Toothless rolled his eyes and flexed his wings. "What do you want?"

Cloudjumper eyed the young, black dragon. He knew that becoming Alpha was a hard adjustment from Toothless' previous playful and carefree ways. That was why the older, more mature dragon decided to help Toothless adjust to his new role as his second-in-command. "There is a fight between a few dragons that has broken out near the docks."

Toothless looked down to the docks and sure enough, there were two Monstrous Nightmares fighting over a large catch of fish. It looked fresh.

The young Alpha growled again. Could these dragons do nothing without conflict?! He spread his wings and jumped into the air, gliding towards his destination. Cloudjumper flew right behind him.

* * *

><p>Down at the docks, the two Nightmares continued to bite and roar at each other. The few humans that had tried to intervene flinched away, afraid of being burned. At this point there was really nothing they could do, anyway.<p>

Suddenly a figure jumped onto the dock and spun around in a circle, igniting a sword of flames. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, fellas!"

"Chief Hiccup!"

"Thank the Gods you're here!"

Hiccup blushed a little at his still fairly new title … and the praise. Any villager in Berk knew, that if anyone could stop a dragon fight, Hiccup could. The boy-chief continued to wave the sword in front of the two warring dragons until they seemed to calm down a bit, then he carefully put it away "Okay, what seems to be the problem, boys?" He asked confidently with his hands on his hips.

"Oh, oh! Right here, Chief!" One of the fishermen said. He pointed to a load of fish that had just been caught.

One of the Nightmares made a go for it, but the other roared loudly at it and ignited itself again. This caused the other Nightmare to ignite as well, in defense.

Hiccup help up his hands. "Whoa! Boys, settle down!" Neither dragon listened. They both circled the catch of fish, biting and roaring once again.

A high-pitched wailing was heard before a blue blast fell perfectly between the two Monstrous Nightmares.

With his large wings flared out, Toothless landed on the load of fish and roared loudly at the two dragons, who instantly put out their fires and silenced. Both Nightmares respectfully bowed their heads. The black dragon continued to roar as he walked up to Hiccup's side.

"Thanks, bud." Hiccup commented while petting his best friend on the neck. He stepped up to the two Nightmares. "Okay, now … how do we go about settling this?"

Toothless rolled his eyes and stepped up before roaring at the other two dragons. One dragon growled softly, almost whimpering, but Toothless roared over it, effectively silencing the Nightmare. After a few minutes with defeated looks, both Nightmares flew off in different directions. Proud of himself, Toothless looked at Hiccup, his body language clearly saying, "and that's how it's done."

Now it was Hiccup's turn to roll his eyes. "Yeah, yeah; all hail Toothless, the Almighty Alpha … Stop-er of Dragon Fights … long may he reign." He held his hands up in a mocking gesture.

Toothless knew that his friend was being sarcastic, but simply smiled his signature smile and licked him all over the face.

Caught off guard, Hiccup sputtered before finally pushing the dragon away and wiping his face. "Smooth, bud …"

* * *

><p>The rest of the day continued on as normal. Hiccup and Toothless both settled back into their roles as leaders. Their paths separated them; but later that evening they would see each other at home.<p>

Toothless had returned to the house earlier than Hiccup that evening. When the young man opened the door and entered the house, the first thing he saw was Toothless licking Skyla gently on the face, earning little baby giggles and squeals from her. Sometimes she would try and grab Toothless' tongue; he would then lick her little fingers. The baby girl giggled more.

Hiccup softly chuckled as he watched this. The black dragon had yet to acknowledge his presence. "I can't tell who's getting a bigger kick out of that, you or her."

Toothless looked up and gave Hiccup that smile again. He leaped over to the young man and used his front paws to push his rider down to the floor before licking him all over again. "Aww, T-Tooth-Toothless – stop! Sto-Stop"

The Night Fury did stop, only to roll over on top of Hiccup, making him groan loudly. "**OOWWW!** TOOTHLESS! You know, you're not exactly light!" The dragon let out a vibrating sound from his throat, the dragon equivalent to a laugh, while Hiccup struggled to get the Night Fury off of him.

Under that reptilian laugh, he could hear a feminine, human laugh. Hiccup looked up—as much as he could—to see his mother, Valka, sitting in a chair near the fire. She had a loving smile on her face that reached up to her tired eyes.

"The two of you play harder than any of the baby dragons." She continued to laugh lightly.

Hiccup smiled and, with great effort on his part, finally rolled out from under the Night Fury. "Hey, Mom." He made his way over to Valka and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "How was your day?" Hiccup asked as he pulled up a chair and settled down.

"It was fine. Had a few toughies, but nothing too difficult."

Hiccup was still new to the whole Chief thing. So in order to ease him of some of the pressure Valka took some of the jobs. Even after being absent for twenty years, she still remembered the stress that her late husband, Stoic the Vast, had to go through. After all, she had been the Chief's wife for three years before Hiccup came along. So she knew how to do some of the duties the Chief was expected to do.

"Well, that's good." Hiccup said.

Just then a small whine came from the cradle. Hiccup walked over to it and carefully picked his daughter up. "Hey there …" He kissed Skyla on her forehead and rocked her in his arms. "Where's your mother?" He asked in a gentle voice.

The baby girl just looked up at her father with big, bright, trusting teal eyes. She smiled at bit as she grabbed his finger. Hiccup kissed the tiny fist that held tightly onto him.

"Oh," Hiccup looked over at Valka as she spoke up, "she had to do some things with her mother today. She should be back soon."

Hiccup rolled his eyes as he continued to rock Skyla in his arms. "Yeah, sure …"

Astrid's mother was perhaps the only Viking on Berk that still did not appreciate Hiccup. She respected him as a Chief, but not as a son-in-law. Hiccup had no idea why this was. Astrid's father and three older brothers had no problem with Hiccup; it was like gaining another little brother to push around. According to them Astrid practically pushed her way up the social latter because she was the new Chief's wife; practically princess or queen status.

Hiccup never really felt threatened about this, though. Annoyed, yes; threatened, no. Astrid always assured him that she would never love another the way she loved him. That only made him feel half better.

Skyla's loud cry woke Hiccup from his thoughts. He repositioned her to his shoulder and shushed her, but her cries just kept getting louder.

"She's hungry," Valka explained, having to raise her voice so Hiccup could hear her.

The young Chief groaned. He was not exactly "properly equipped," as Astrid so arrogantly put it, to feed his daughter. Skyla kept crying while Hiccup continued to try and sooth her until Astrid returned, but nothing worked. He paced back and forth, shushing her and telling her it was okay, that Mommy would be back in a little while.

Toothless had had just about enough of the loud crying. It was the one downfall of Skyla. He rolled his eyes before approaching Hiccup, causing the young man to stop his pacing. "What's wrong, bud?"

The black dragon could tell that the baby's crying was beginning to get to him. Toothless took his tail-tip and waved it in front of the baby girl's face. As soon as she saw it wiggling in front of her face she stopped crying. After a second she tried reaching for it. Toothless pulled his tail-tip away a little bit to keep it out of her reach. He then lowered it to very gently to brush against her tiny nose, tickling her. The baby girl giggled and tried to grab the tail-tip again. Toothless had managed to take her mind off of her hunger for a moment.

Hiccup relaxed a bit, but was a little jealous that his dragon could make his daughter happy in an instant and he could not. Despite that, he was still grateful that Skyla had stopped crying. "Thanks, bud."

Toothless smiled and continued to play with the baby. Hiccup rolled his eyes again. "You know, I'm beginning to suspect that you love my daughter more than me." He dryly stated. Toothless looked at him with big eyes and smiled again, letting out that vibrating sound again. Hiccup's jaw practically fell open as he realized Toothless' answer. "Seriously?!"

The Night Fury just laughed again. "Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answers to." He said, knowing full well that Hiccup could not understand him.

Valka laughed at them just as Astrid came through the door.

"Hey, Babe." Hiccup greeted. Astrid exhaled loudly. The slight twitch in her eye made Hiccup smirk. "Didn't go well?" He asked with clear smug in his voice.

"You should have heard her, "_Astrid, Bjorn's son just returned from a great Viking quest_," She mocked her mother the same way Hiccup used to mock Stoic; accent and all, "_I'm sure you'd like him_." After her rant, Astrid sat down and began to feed Skyla.

"How many times did you have to remind her that we're married?" Hiccup asked as he took a seat against Toothless' side.

"Five. Also had to remind her that she's a grandmother, but I think that all went over her head."

Hiccup and Valka laughed.

"Well, now you're home and you can relax, dear." The older woman mentioned, patting Astrid on the shoulder.

Hiccup left his spot against Toothless and crawled over to his wife, mother and daughter. He knelt right by Skyla's head and gave her a kiss right before giving Astrid one on the lips.

Toothless watched as his best friend spent time with his family. The dragon was not listening to what they said. He just noticed how … happy Hiccup was. It had been a long time since he had seen such a strong, sincere smile on his pet human's face.

He watched as Astrid handed Skyla to Valka, who rocked the baby in her arms. Hiccup reached into the cradle and brought the little stuffed dragon toy that Valka had made for him when he was a baby; he had passed it down to Skyla. He waved it in her line of sight. The happy laugh that followed caused the three adults to laugh as well. Toothless was very happy for his friend, but also a little bitter. Hiccup had taken a step forward that the Night Fury knew he never could.

Toothless had always known this would happen. He just did not think it would happen so fast. It made him contemplate how much had happened in just a little more than half a decade.

The young dragon quietly whimpered and laid his head on his forepaws. All this family business made him think about just how lonely he truly was. He had not always felt this way. Some time ago, he cherished the idea of being one-of-a-kind. Now though … now others were moving on and he could not.

The Viking humans did not know it, but he actually was not the last Night Fury. There was plenty of his kind … just not around here. The archipelago was not the Night Fury's natural habitat. No, they were native to a mountain range far, far to the east. How had Toothless arrived here? Well, that was a very long story.

Just thinking that there were others of his kind out there made the young dragon feel an urge to go back to the mountains and find one. But he could not subject Hiccup to that kind of danger, especially now that he had a noble role in the village … and a family.

Toothless' ear twitched when Hiccup spoke. "Okay, time to say 'night-night'." Hiccup brought Skyla over to Toothless, who nuzzled her softly. The baby girl was already fast asleep.

* * *

><p>After Skyla was put to bed, it was not long before Astrid fell sleep. As a new mother, it was natural for her to be overly tired—and crankier than usual, according to Hiccup. Valka had decided to go to bed as well. She slept in Stoic's old room.<p>

Hiccup stayed up a few more hours, going over a few documents. Toothless rested by his side.

Suddenly, the light of a candle flickered on in Valka's room. It caught Hiccup's attention and naturally, he had to investigate.

As Hiccup quietly made his way over to the room, he could hear little sobs and sniffles. Upon reaching the half-open door, he saw his mother sitting on the bed. She had been the one sobbing. Her back was towards the door but Hiccup could still hear it, nonetheless.

" … Mom?"

Startled, Valka quickly turned around. "Oh, Hiccup …" she wiped her eyes with her sleeves, "what are you still doing up, dear?"

Hiccup slowly entered through the doorway, never taking his eyes off of his mother. "I was going over some things."

"Oh …"

Even though she smiled a bit, Hiccup could hear the shudder in her voice. "Are you okay, Mom?"

"Oh, yes … why do you ask?"

They may not have known each other very long, but Hiccup knew that Valka did not hide her emotions very well. "Because I heard you crying."

The woman's strained smile fell from her tired face. "Oh, well, I had something in my eyes and—"

Suddenly Hiccup threw his arms around her in a strong, yet warm embrace. After a moment of surprise Valka returned the hug. A tear dropped from her eye.

Hiccup pulled away with tears in his emerald eyes. "I miss him too …" He whispered, voice cracking a bit. Mother and son then sat together on the large bed and sobbed into each other.

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><p>Neither of them knew that Toothless had silently watched the encounter from outside the doorway.. It tore him apart to see the humans that he loved crying over something that he had done. He could not stand it. It was times like this that made him want to jump off a cliff, just to rid himself of the guilt. Pain gripped his heart when he thought about the atrocious thing that he did.<p>

Toothless knew that he would not be able to look at Hiccup without feeling guilt for the rest of the night. So he decided to spend the night somewhere else, probably his cliff. He slipped through the window in Hiccup and Astrid's room, being extra careful not to wake the maiden up.

The young Alpha hated this guilty feeling. The Night Fury knew that Hiccup had forgiven him, the young Chief always assured him. But there was always that feeling that deep, deep, deep down Hiccup would never one hundred percent truly forgive him. They had not been able to look at each other the same way since Stoic's untimely death.

After walking slowly for about half an hour, Toothless finally reached his cliff. Looking down, he could see a peaceful and quiet village on one side, and a lively, yet equally peaceful forest on the other.

There were a few dragons sleeping around the town and another few dragons patrolling the skies. In the forest, a family of Nadders slept peacefully in a large tree while a mated pair of Gronkles snoozed in the cave-like opening of the roots of that same tree. He watched as a Terrible Terror glided rom one treetop to another.

Toothless lay down on the cliff and closed his eyes. He had every intention of going back to sleep when a familiar—constantly nagging—scent met his nose. He groaned and sat up.

"Do you make it a habit to follow me everywhere?!"

A figure climbed up from under the Cliffside, laughing. Cloudjumper had been hanging upside down under the aerie. "I assure you, Your Grace, that I had no idea that you would be returning this evening." The big, owl-like dragon answered with amusement.

Toothless scoffed. "Yeah, right."

Actually, Toothless could have given Cloudjumper the benefit of a doubt on this one. Since the Stormcutter was too big to be in the house, the Night Fury did not know where he resided, come nightfall.

Cloudjumper tilted his head to the side and blinked. "Something troubling you?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because you are here."

"Right …"

Cloudjumper took a step closer and laid down beside the Alpha. "I can smell that you are depressed. That is not like you."

Toothless sighed. "I just wish that humans could live in the moment, like us, rather than live in the past all the time …"

The two dragons were silent for a moment. "Does this have anything to do with your human?"

Sometimes Cloudjumper really crept Toothless out by the way he could easily read the Night Fury. "Both of our humans …" The young Alpha rested his head upon his paws.

Cloudjumper sighed, finally understanding. "What happened to Valka's mate was not your fault." The dragon's tone was wise and patient.

"I know … but the truth of the matter is ... that the finishing blow came … from me …" Toothless' guilt had never been more pronounced in his voice. He lowered his head and clenched his eyes shut, mentally beating himself up over the deed.

"Do not fly down that path, Your Grace …"

Toothless lifted his head and looked at his second-in-command with a raised brow. Normally he had little trouble deciphering the Stormcutter's words of wisdom, but this one could use more detail.

"Once you surrender yourself to inner darkness it is practically impossible to rise from the inevitable oblivion."

The two dragons stared at each other, one with knowledgeable satisfaction and the other with absolute confusion.

"That … totally went over my head." Toothless finally replied, shaking his head in confusion.

Cloudjumper sighed. "If you let yourself wallow in such sorrow than it may lead you to your own demise."

"Oh." Toothless contemplated the words for a second before he forcefully shook off the though and stood up. "Leave me alone, Cloudjumper …" He said, walking off.

"As you wish, Your Grace." The Stormcutter replied, trying to life the Alpha's spirits.

Before he left Cloudjumper's sight, Toothless was able to reply, "And don't call me that!" over his shoulder.

* * *

><p>The young Alpha grumbled to himself as he made his way through the forest. "Who does that old bag of scales think he is? It's not like he was there …" As he walked, Terrible Terrors and other small animals scattered. They knew that the Alpha dragon was not one to be messed around with when irritated.<p>

Toothless knew that he was being difficult at the moment … but he did not care, considering the situation. He desperately tried to get the haunting image of Stoic lying motionless under chunks of ice out of his mind's eye. The black dragon stopped mid-step. Cloudjumper's words were too little too late. He closed his eyes and hung his head in shame and sadness. If he had been a stronger dragon, none of this would have happened. Hiccup would not have been forced to take so many duties he was not comfortable with and they would all be one big happy family. "It _is_ my fault …" Toothless could not help but look toward the giant statue of the late Chief that stood in the middle of Berk. It was so large, that even so deep in the forest it was visible. " … I'm so sorry …" Unable to look at the statue any longer, Toothless hung his head once more, unable to prevent himself from wallowing in the overwhelming feeling.

Then all of a sudden, something reached his nose, breaking Toothless' pity party with himself. The Night Fury's pupils contracted as he tried to identify the new scent. "That's odd, …" he said to himself before sniffing the air once more, "I know the scent of everything on this island …" And he did; Toothless had a wonderfully enhanced memory. He remembered everything he ever came across. Once seen, he could easily recall anything, if need be. So the fact that this scent was new to him indicated that something new was on his island. The dragon sniffed the ground like a bloodhound, trying to locate the source of this particular scent. He decided to let his nose guide him through this mystery.

The Night Fury tracked the scent through the forest, eventually leading to the treetops. For a second he had lost it before jumping down to the ground. That was when he picked it up again. So he continued to follow it. His natural curiosity had taken ahold of him once again.

The next place he ended up was along the route that he and Hiccup always took to get to the cove. Toothless' first reflex was to go ahead and dive into the large, green valley, as he normally would have, but suddenly the scent took a sharp right, moving away from the cove. Along this time, he began to pick up a slight tang in the scent that had not been previously present. This added scent, he knew quite well. "Blood…"

For the next hour or so he continued to track the source. The Night Fury noticed that the further he went the more the scent was becoming … familiar. It took him aback for a second. He was developing a theory in his head as to what the source might be. But it was impossible … the only way to find out was to track the scent and find out.

Twenty minutes later he was positive; the scent was _definitely_ familiar. As a matter of fact, it almost smelled like … … like … … "ME!" His theory had been proven fact. Now he _really_ had to find the source. The scent smelled almost like him; like air that was heavy with moisture mixed with mud. But this one was a tad different. Under the blood it smelled like heavy air moisture mixed with flowers. Now the dragon was adamant about finding the source. He did not care if it took him most of the night and into the next day to find it.

The trail took him down the side of a cliff, to a beach that was almost completely hidden from the rest of the island. He had never known that this tiny beach had been on this—fairly reclusive—part of Berk. None of the villagers or dragons came here. For a second Toothless thought that he had been tracking some kind of threat that had used this hidden piece of the island to their advantage.

As he made his way down the side of the cliff, Toothless suddenly stopped mid-step. Lying on the beach was a large, jet black mass. The waves of the ocean pushed it further onto shore. The young black dragon blinked his eyes a few times to make sure he was not seeing things. He sniffed the air. The scent was strongest here. Toothless cautiously approached while sniffing around it. Yes, this was definitely the source of the scent. For further proof, blood ran down its side. Very carefully, Toothless nudged its wing and tail. Yes, definitely a dragon. Finally he made his way over to the foreign dragon's face. While he tried to brace himself, Toothless could not stop the overwhelming shock, pupils narrowed to slits. This dragon looked exactly like him! The Night Fury had to blink and shook his head again. He also clawed himself a bit, still not truly believing what his eyes were seeing. That hurt.

"Okay, I'm awake."

Satisfied that he was not hallucinating, he carefully stepped up to the unconscious and bleeding dragon. Toothless noticed that the dragon was smaller than him. Its wings were shorter, as was its tail and the spines were smaller. Upon further inspection—as much as his nose alone would let him—he could see, more specifically smell, that the dragon was a female! Something he never thought he would have the chance to encounter ever again. Toothless had to take a moment to calm himself down. This was a lot to take in. He did not want to get his hopes up too high now, just to have them come crashing down later

A sudden movement caught his attention. The female dragon stirred. She was waking up. The poor thing whimpered in pain before fully opening her eyes. Toothless tried to stay perfectly still … but those beautiful aquamarine eyes beckoned him forward. She was beautiful; and her scent overwhelmed him.

Before the young Alpha could say anything, the female dragon sprang to her feet with speed that rivaled his own, and snarled at him. The wound on her side made her falter just a bit. "Who are you?!" She asked aggressively.

Toothless was not used to being spoken to in such a manner. He had to remind himself that she was injured and forced himself to swallow his pride—which was quite an achievement for him. "Relax, I'm not going to—"

A large blast of purple-bluish hued plasma exploded in front of him. Toothless was so shocked that he stumbled on his feet. He looked to the female Night Fury. She was still snarling at him. "Stay away from me …" She warned.

Okay, now Toothless was getting pissed. His famous short fuse was just about out. "Hey, you came to my island! You don't have the right to be hostile towards me! I'm the one that should be on the defense!"

The female raised a questioning brow. "Your island?"

"That's right! I'm the Alpha around here!"

The female's eyes narrowed in surprise. To prove his status, Toothless' spines began to glow blue along his back. The female lowered her gaze, but still growled softly. " …Well, it's not as if you own the island …"

Now it was Toothless' turn to growl. He jumped to the side and shot a plasma blast at her. The intent was not to hurt her, but as a warning. The female rolled to dodge the attack. She yelped in pain when she landed on her left side. Suddenly, Toothless' irritation vanished. His pupils expanded and the blue glow faded from his spines. On instinct, he went over to see if she was all right. But before he could see her condition she turned over and growled. Toothless asserted his dominance, as was his nature as a male dragon faced with a female, and stood over her. He snarled loudly and expanded his wings outward. "I was just trying to see how badly you're hurt!"

"It's not all that bad …" There was a slight strain in her voice.

"I smelled your blood across the forest."

"It's nothing I can't handle!"

Toothless forcefully shook his head and snorted loudly. He looked away, briefly. "I know that you're injured. If you don't want my help, that's fine! As Alpha, it's my job to make sure that every dragon that resides on this island is safe." When his gaze returned to her, his pupils were thin slits. "However you don't reside here, so that rule doesn't apply to you!" He said this while hovering threateningly over her. The female reluctantly flinched and raised a paw in her submissive pose.

Toothless retracted his teeth and his pupils expanded. "But as a fellow Nigh—I mean Dark, I know how easily we succumb to infection." The female opened one eye when Toothless backed down. She watched as he turned his back to her. "But don't think I'm ignorant to rapidly we heal," He turned to face her with a look of pure anger. His eyes clearly saying that she was not welcome any more than need be, "so get yourself healed and get the Hel off my island!" That tone signaled the end of the conversation. As thrilled as Toothless was to see another Dark (_had not referred to himself as that in a while_), he did not want to associate himself with such rudeness.

Toothless did not take the time to listen to anything she would have said. He leaped onto the high cliff walls and out of sight. He did not see the female scoff at him after he left.

* * *

><p>Toothless growled to himself as he rounded the corner. "I forgot how ignorant they could be!" He mumbled, referring to the female.<p>

He suddenly stopped to a halt when he spotted something with large, glowing yellow eyes. The black dragon's heart stopped. He did not want anyone, dragon or human, to know of the female Night Fury on that beach. He looked over his shoulder to where he just came from, and then back to Cloudjumper, whose glowing gaze did not falter.

Toothless scoffed. Even though he was Alpha, that was a rank not normally enforced with Cloudjumper. True to his word, the quad-winged dragon was always loyal. But this was a hard situation. Toothless casually walked past him, the Stormcutter's gaze following him with every step. "You saw nothing." He stated firmly, starting his way back to the village.

Cloudjumper said nothing.


	2. Chapter 2: Good Intentions Gone Wrong

_Well, no one said anything for this story. I guess that's good, "no news is good news", after all. However there have been those that put it in their favorites. A sign that it's okay. Remember, people: I'm a person that writes these stories for fun. I don't care if anyone likes them or not. Yes, it'd be nice, but I don't need the praise to continue on. Which is why I've decided to update this piece._

_I know this seems like a typical "new Night Fury" story, but I think mine is different for 1, the two dragons hate each other (right now). 2, she has no name. Help me come up with one. I have one in mind, but let's see what you can come up with. And 3, I see this as more of a "Toothless finds something that he wants to keep for himself", as oppose to "sharing" it with Hiccup. That's what this story is really supposed to be about._

_Also, it was pretty hard to distinguish the dragons' speech from human, so I bolded the dragons' speech to differentiate between the two. Okay, here you go._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2: Good Intentions Gone Wrong<strong>

* * *

><p>Hiccup was up bright and early the next morning, rocking a babbling baby girl on his lap. When Skyla began fussing in the middle of the night, Hiccup rudely woke Astrid up with the excuse of, <em>"Astrid, the baby needs you …"<em> The young woman responded by groaning annoyingly before straining her ears to listen to her daughter's cries. After determining that Skyla was using her _"I want to play"_ cry, she firmly insisted that Hiccup take care of the baby, since he had woken her up for no reason. Hiccup finally gave in after losing three straight rounds of _"Rock, Parchment, Dagger"._

Downstairs in the candle light, the baby kept babbling happily to her father. Hiccup just nodded and randomly responded with a series of _"mm-hmm's"_ and_ "I see's"._ The girl probably thought that they were actually having a conversation. But Hiccup had other things on his mind. Aside from the construction of new houses that he had to oversee, marriages he had to officiate, and festival food he had to approve, he had woken up to find his best friend had left the house.

After finding comfort in his mother's arms earlier that night, Hiccup finally decided to get some sleep. He had entered his room, expecting to see his wife already asleep in their bed, and his best friend asleep in his usual spot. But the big, black pile of scales, that usually kept the room so warm, was nowhere to be seen. Hiccup sighed as shifted Skyla to a shoulder when his arm started to lose feeling in it.

He had a theory that Night Furies were nocturnal dragons (_although he could not prove this theory, seeing as he only had one specimen to work with_). Toothless occasionally left the house during the night to do Thor knows what nocturnal creatures did during the night. That had been the reason why Hiccup had not been excessively worried when he first noticed his dragon's absence. But worry began to eat at the back of his mind as the night went on. Toothless always returned to the house before sunrise, either to get in an early morning flight or a few hours of sleep.

A small squeal and poke at his face brought Hiccup back to the present. He looked down into the teal eyes of his daughter and smiled. Skyla was in the "poking stage", and she loved poking her parents in the face. The little girl giggled as Hiccup gave his daughter an Eskimo kiss.

Suddenly the house shifted quite a bit. He knew what that meant all too well: Toothless had finally come home. After a few moments of silence, Hiccup could hear the Night Fury making his way through the loft and down the stairs, probably to look for his rider. The young Chief smiled when he saw that his best friend was all right, although he was still rather pissed that the dragon had been gone for so long and made him worry in the first place. "Welcome home, _Your Highness_."

The dragon looked over at Hiccup and made his way over to him, completely ignoring the sarcastic comment. When Skyla caught sight of the familiar ebony dragon that she adored, she squealed in delight and held her arms out for him. Toothless then quickened his pace so that he could greet her.

Hiccup rolled his eyes as Toothless rushed over and covered the giggling baby girl with dragon kisses. "You two have an odd relationship, you know that?"

Toothless immediately stopped licking Skyla and stared at the girl's father with a hard look, one eye narrowed in annoyance. **'Seriously, Bro?'**

Hiccup just laughed at Toothless' expression. He could practically hear his dragon calling him a hypocrite. "Yeah, I guess we're the ones with the odd relationship, huh?"

Toothless exaggeratingly rolled his eyes to get his point across. **'Duh!'**

Hiccup laughed again as he, very gently, laid Skyla down on a fur blanket so that Toothless could easily envelope her in his warmth; and that is exactly what he did. He lay down around the girl like a reptilian shield that promised protection from the outside world. Skyla's babbling was now aimed at Toothless, who nuzzled her as she "spoke".

Hiccup smiled as he watched his child and dragon interact with one another. He absolutely loved how Toothless was so protective over the baby girl. He knew that the Night Fury would gladly sacrifice his own life in order to protect Hiccup's family. However he suspected that, if given the choice, Toothless would probably save Skyla over Hiccup, any day. The boy-Chief shrugged acceptingly at this.

As Hiccup continued to watch, he noticed that Toothless' eyes seemed to look a bit heavy. They were half-lidded, and he would blink more often than usual. He also gently shook his head a few times. Hiccup knew that these were actions that Toothless usually did to keep himself awake when he was tired. The darker skin under those luminous, peridot eyes told Hiccup that Toothless had been awake all night. This was very odd to Hiccup, considering how much Toothless enjoyed his sleep. Hiccup had to wonder just what his friend had been up to during the night. Toothless was not usually this tired, not even on the nights that he left the house. Something must have happened during the night.

Jumping with a slight startle, Hiccup was brought out of his thoughts when he heard Toothless let out a painful yip. Somehow Skyla had gotten ahold of one of the dragon's ears and yanked on it. The baby girl giggled at the sound Toothless made when she tugged.

Seeing this, Hiccup had to bite his lip to keep from laughing, himself. "Oh, good Odin … this is priceless …"

Had it been anyone else, Toothless would not have hesitated from blasting the person (_or dragon_) on the spot—even Hiccup, since he should know better. It was amazing how one seven-month-old human baby girl could tame the reigning Alpha dragon. Thinking of this concept caused a snort to pass through Hiccup's mouth. He covered his mouth with a hand, trying to hide his laughter.

Not too long afterward, Astrid came down the stairs, yawning. "Oh, that extra sleep felt good. Feel free to do early-morning play times more often, Hiccup." The young woman raised her arms above her head and stretched. Her knuckles popped, as well as the kinks in her spine.

Hiccup smiled and shook his head as he rolled his eyes. His wife would always be that strong, wild girl that he had fallen in love with in their youth. "Morning, _Dear_." He replied, dripping with sarcasm. Smirking, Astrid came over and gave him a deep kiss on the lips, wrapping her arms around his neck as she did so. Once she felt Hiccup start to melt into it, she pulled away and punched him in the arm. "Ouch! What was that for?!" He demanded, rubbing the minor wound.

Astrid's smirk turned into a sweet smile. "Don't call me that."

"Noted …"

The two sat and watched as their daughter practically abused Toothless. Hiccup told Toothless that it was his own fault. He pointed out that if the dragon did not want Skyla to pull on any ears, or frills, or wings, than he would have to be more stern with her. The Night Fury sulked and just took the "beating".

After a few more minutes Hiccup stood up and stretched before giving his wife one last kiss for the morning. "Well Bud, what do you say we get just a bit of a flight in before we start the day?"

Toothless jumped for joy, being very careful not to get too rambunctious until Astrid had Skyla safely in her arms.

* * *

><p>As Hiccup saddled Toothless up for the day, the young Alpha's thoughts kept returning to that female dragon currently residing on the hidden beach. She may have been the only other Night Fury around, but she was also very rude and disrespectful. He was not used to being treated like that, and it made him more annoyed whenever he thought of that encounter.<p>

The Alpha dragon came to the decision that no one was to know about this female. Toothless did not want the other dragons to get their hopes up, thinking that their beloved Alpha had finally found a suitable mate. Just thinking about a union with such a … _dragon_ made him upset. Toothless violently shook his head to rid himself of such an idea, nearly knocking Hiccup over in the process.

"Whoa, whoa, take it easy! What's the matter, Bud?"

Toothless did not answer, and when the action did not repeat itself, Hiccup did not press the matter further. He just went about adjusting the saddle and making sure that the safety mechanisms were in place.

But just because Toothless did not show his inner conflict did not mean that he had let it go. He looked to his human friend. If Hiccup knew about her than he, too, would get his hopes up for Toothless. He would want something to come out of this whole thing. No, it was best that the presence of the female Night Fury remain a secret.

The only other dragon that would know of her would be Cloudjumper, and that was only because he had seen her already. And Toothless did not have to worry about the owl-like dragon saying anything. He had already told the larger dragon that no one was to know about _her_. Along with Stormfly, Cloudjumper was the most loyal of any dragon on Berk. That was why Cloudjumper was Beta. Toothless was sure that the secret was safe with him.

"Alright, Bud. You ready?"

Toothless scoffed loudly. **'Stupid question!'** He replied. It was time to play a little game. The black dragon suddenly began running toward the nearest cliff.

"Hey, wait for me!" Hiccup ran as fast as he could, which, with a leg missing was not very fast, but nonetheless.

Toothless purposely jumped off the cliff with a spring practically in his step. Hiccup groaned loudly in frustration when he realized that Toothless was playing a game. He quickly jumped off the same cliff and held his arms to his sides to gain more speed. Beneath him, Toothless looked at him with his back to the ground and his tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth. **'Come on, catch up already, Mammal!'** He then righted himself so that his rider could easily grip onto the saddle. Hiccup reached the saddle merely seconds before Toothless would have been impaled by the sharp rocks below.

Once Toothless felt Hiccup's grip on the saddle he automatically opened his wings to gain momentum. At the same time, Hiccup pulled up on the saddle. Both dragon and rider cheered as they began to sail smoothly and swiftly through the sky. "WOO-HOO! YEAH!" Hiccup cheered with his fists in the air.

The young man then glared down at Toothless and softly gave him a kick to the side, causing the dragon to grunt in surprise. "The next time you decide on jumping to your death like that, let me know! You scared me half to death!" Toothless responded by rolling his eyes.

* * *

><p>Later that day sometime around noon, Hiccup had lunch with his family, which consisted of: Astrid, Skyla, Toothless, Valka, Cloudjumper, and Gobber. They decided to have a family picnic outside that day, just because it was a rare, fairly cool, cloudless day.<p>

Hiccup loved this time of day. It was the only time that he was able to enjoy the company of all his loved ones at one time. No matter what they were going through, the family would put aside whatever they were doing in order to have this time together. A night at home could not necessarily be guaranteed, while they were all sure to attend the lunch. It was blissful time for all of them.

Astrid had a bored look on her face as she watched Gobber try to make Skyla laugh, which was not a very big feat, seeing as how Skyla was a very happy baby and laughed at just about everything. Normally the young mother had no problem with Gobber dealing with her daughter. However it was when Skyla got too close to the man's hook that she began to freak out.

Valka and Hiccup chatted about their day, comparing notes. "This morning I had a guy who wanted to have his wife arrested." Hiccup told his mother before taking a bite of his chicken.

"What for?" Valka asked.

"For slaughtering his favorite yak…" Valka laughed when Hiccup rolled his eyes. Honestly, sometimes he could not believe the stupid arguments that people had…

"So what did you do about it?"

"I told him to pick another yak to favor and move on … then I gave his wife permission to "knock" some sense into him." Hiccup took another bite of his food and swallowed it before continuing his story. "She slugged him so hard, he was knocked out completely." Valka laughed a bit more. She knew how much it aggravated her son to deal with stupid domestic arguments like that.

The two continued to talk. Suddenly, Hiccup felt a small touch in his lap. It startled him a bit, but when he looked down, he saw two shining teal eyes looking up at him. "Skyla! You're crawling!" Feeling so overjoyed at his daughter's achievement, Hiccup picked her up and spun her around in the air. He gave her a few congratulating kisses as a reward.

When the adrenaline of the moment passed, he looked around at the other three adults and noticed that he was the only one excited. "Wait, why isn't anyone more—OW! OW! OW! Skyla, let go of Daddy's hair! **OW!**" Everyone laughed at Hiccup's expense as he pealed a lock of his auburn hair out of Skyla's tiny fist.

"Hate to break it to you, Babe, but she's been moving like that for about three days." Astrid mentioned.

Hiccup's jaw fell open. "What?! How come I haven't seen it?!" He had a whining tone in his voice.

"Well, you've been working hard lately, Dear." Valka replied.

Hiccup threw his head back with a loud groan. "How can I already be missing this kind of stuff?!" His whining had stopped, but a saddened expression was on his face as he looked at his daughter. He knew the pain of not having a parent present at important events in life. "I promised myself that I'd never do that …" He gave Skyla a kiss on her forehead as she snuggled into his chest.

"Relax, Hiccup," Hiccup looked to his wife when she came up to him and rested her chin on his shoulder, "she's only doing the _"worm crawl"_. So you'll still be able to see all her really important milestones."

The young chief smiled lovingly and gave his wife a long, soft kiss. "What would I do without you?" He asked, rhetorically.

Astrid's smile turned into a smirk. "You'd worry too much on such trivial manners and your hair would turn gray at a young age." She played with his hair as she said this. Both of them laughed.

As far as the two dragons of the family went, they were laying on the hillside, keeping an eye on everything. Usually Toothless and Cloudjumper would take this time to do a quick patrol around the town from both sky and ground. If something needed the Alpha's attention, Cloudjumber was quick to notify him.

At the moment, Toothless was happily enjoying the large pile of fish that had just been presented to him. Some of the dragons took it upon themselves to thank their leader for all that he has done, by periodically offering fish to him. Just now, a quintet of Terrors each offered him a sizable salmon.

Toothless downed two salmon and was going to start on the third when he looked over to his left to see Cloudjumper staring at him. The Night Fury tried to ignore it, but the unnerving feeling of eyes on him could not be shaken off. Finally, he became fed up and growled loudly to his Beta.

**'What?!'** He harshly demanded.

Cloudjumper stared at him for a little longer with his large eyes. He wanted to know all of the details the Alpha's encounter the previous night. However he knew that Toothless was strangely firm on keeping that young female Night Fury (_Cloudjumper cringed. He was not used to using the humans' terms for dragon species yet …_) a secret. The Stormcutter did not know why; surly the ebony dragon's rider would want to know of such a thing. **'Are you going to simply ignore the events of last night, Your Grace?'**

Toothless growled lowly, sounding almost threatening. **'No one needs to know about that …'**

**'What is your purpose of keeping her a secret? Your human has been looking for more of your kind for quite some time.'**

Toothless suddenly snarled at Cloudjumper, signaling that he was pulling on a delicate string. **'That's exactly **_**why**_** it needs to remain a secret!'** Without even flinching at Toothless' attempt to be authoritative, Cloudjumper just blinked his eyes and tilted his head in confusion. The smaller dragon sighed. **'If I let anyone—especially **_**Hiccup**_**—know about her,' **Toothless stood up and walked away from his lunch, turning away from Cloudjumper so that he did not have to look the Beta in the eye, **'they'll expect something to come out of it …'** He almost had a sad tone to his statement.

Cloudjumper blinked again. **'You did not enjoy her company?'**

Toothless blew a spark at the ground as he loudly scoffed**. 'Enjoy?! Does a fish enjoy being out in the sun all day?! No, I didn't enjoy her company!'**

The Stormcutter sighed. He was really hoping that the female Dark would be compatible with the young Alpha. But at the same time, understood Toothless' reasoning. He had learned early on that Toothless hated disappointing anyone. Cloudjumper just stood and watched as Toothless paced back and forth, venting out his anger and ranting about how rude and terrible the female Dar—_Night Fury_ had been.

**'I mean, she was just so … GRRRR!'** The Night Fury's spines and nostrils began to glow blue for a second when he growled. He spread his wings out as well showing just how aggravated the female had made him. Cloudjumper did not know what to do. Should he just lend an ear, or should he try to calm his leader down. After a few minutes, Toothless shook his head to rid himself of that aggravation for fear of releasing uncontrollable power.

**'It was only one encounter, Your Grace. Perhaps you should meet her again and get to know her a bit more.'**

**'I don't want to get to know her …'**

Cloudjumper sighed again. He had a feeling that he should give the Alpha some wise advice. But he bit that feeling back. Toothless was too young to know how to deal with these types of situations. The older dragon knew that the younger would not take his words on this matter to heart. Cloudjumper opened his wings when he saw Valka make her way over to him. He looked over at Toothless, who stared at the ground with a sneer in his eyes, like he was replaying the encounter over again in his head**. 'Well, it is your decision, Your Grace. Whatever you decide, I will stand with you.'**

Toothless watched as Cloudjumper flew off with Valka on his back. He sighed and adjusted his wings. As much as he tried to put up a dismissive attitude, Toothless could not get the large, orange dragon's words out of his head—he was sure that Cloudjumper could see right through his front. So growling at himself softly, he looked toward Hiccup's direction.

Astrid and Skyla had left, probably home for Skyla's nap. Hiccup and Gobber were dealing with villagers and their problems. Okay, so the human was occupied … for the moment, at least. Toothless looked around at the other Vikings and dragons. None of them were paying any attention to him. They were all living in their own blissful ignorance.

Toothless tried for ten minutes to get the conversation that he had with his Beta out of his head. Despite how much he wanted to prove the older dragon wrong, he had to admit that he was just a teeny-tiny-itsy-bitsy bit curious to see whether the female had left or not. Toothless gave one last glance to Hiccup to make sure that the boy-Chief was still busy. Yep, still busy.

The ebony dragon began gradually making his way toward the nearest entrance to the forest. Every few steps he would look back to make sure that his rider was not looking. He could not afford to have his simple-minded-mammal-friend follow him and find out about their uninvited guest. Still busy; time to go.

Like a grasshopper, Toothless quickly hopped into the brush and ran off into the forest. Hopefully if any of the dragons needed him, they would go bug—_ask_ Cloudjumper.

* * *

><p>It did not take the Night Fury long to find the secret beach once more. His perfect memory helped him greatly in situations such as the one he found himself in at the moment. Toothless was sure that the humans had a term for such remarkable memories, but he could not recall it.<p>

He was able to track the female's scent once again. This concerned Toothless. That meant that either the female was still there, or her scent was just lingering from her previous visit. The young Alpha prayed to the skies above that it was the latter.

He slowly made his way down the rocky cliff and onto the soft sand of the beach. The closer he approached, the stronger the scent became. The salty sea air was thick, but not thick enough to mask the scent of an injured dragon.

Toothless used his enhanced vision to take in every detail of the beach. Strange; he could smell her, but he could not see her. Where was she? Maybe she really did leave? No, if she had left then her scent would not be as strong as it was.

Toothless began sniffing the sand. He picked up the scent of the female's blood and followed it for a few paces. He then looked up, stopping in his tracks. Before him was a small crack in the rock formations. It appeared to be quite deep. It was a cave! The cave was so small and so well hidden that Toothless had completely missed it the last time he was there. Toothless' curiosity was legendary; and it did not let him down at that moment when he decided to enter the small cave.

The young Alpha took careful maneuvers when approaching the cave. The female could be anywhere. The entrance to the cave was just large enough for him to fit through. The cave was actually larger than it looked from the outside.

Toothless cautiously stepped inside the cave. The female's scent was strong within it. With his natural night vision, it was easy for the Night Fury to locate what he was looking for. The instant his peridot eyes found the female Night Fury Toothless' natural reflex, of spreading his wings out, kicked in. But he relaxed when he realized that she was asleep. He folded in his wings and sat down, staring at the dragon before him.

She really was beautiful. Toothless' enhanced vision gave him the ability to see the small designs in her scales. How interesting. He could hear her make soft purring sounds as she slept. Her long claws reflected the minimal light that the cave entrance provided. And her scent! Toothless inhaled deeply. And her scent was wonderful! But he could still smell her blood. She was still too hurt to really go anywhere.

Being a fellow Dark (_ugh! Cloudjumper was rubbing off on him …_), he knew that his kind were fast healers. However it depended on the extent of the injuries that indicated how long the actual healing would take.

Toothless slowly approached the female Night Fury. He did not want to wake her up. Slowly and carefully, he was able to gently move her (_beautiful?_) wing to get to the injury. What Toothless saw made him frown in sympathy.

The injury had begun healing, but not properly. Dirt and debris from the cave, most likely the beach as well, had caked along her side, forming a makeshift scab over the wound. She was still bleeding a little too much. The male Night Fury could only guess at how much blood the female had lost since he had left her last night.

Toothless sighed. Even if she was annoying and rude, she did not deserve to die of infection. But the wound had scabbed over so much that Toothless would have to reopen it, just to get it to heal properly.

He tried to be as gentle as possible—well, as gentle as one dragon could be with another—while removing the dirt and debris. She twitched and whimpered in her sleep. Poor thing. The pain must have really exhausted her. Nevertheless, Toothless continued his mission. He was able to remove the twigs, leaves and clumps of sand.

Now came the hard part: removing the scab. Toothless had to dig his claws under her armor of scales and into her inner skin to get to the rest of the scab. This was something Toothless was quite skilled at doing. His pre-Hiccup days called for first-aide skills quite often. And he usually had to care for himself; no one else was going to help him.

Once the scab was completely removed a significant amount of blood began to gush out again. Working on instinct, Toothless quickly stopped the blood flow by licking the wound.

The female yelped loudly and her eyes snapped open. She screeched and pushed Toothless away before swiftly rising to her feet. The reopened wound caused her to falter a bit. **'What are you doing?!' **She yelled in panic, her wings spread wide.

Toothless stepped back, but still held caution. **'Relax, I was just trying to heal your injury.'**

The female growled and flicked her wings, emitting a slight wince of pain. **'It was already healed before you came along!'**

The young Alpha scoffed. **'Poorly. Didn't your parents, or anyone teach you how to properly treat wounds?'**

**'That's none of your business.'**

**'I was trying to help you!'** The volume of Toothless' growls began to rise.

The female dragon turned her head away. **'I don't need your help.'**

That snobby tone of hers really went right through Toothless, draining him of all the patience, which he had sworn to himself to have, with her. **'Fine! If you don't want my help, then don't come cryin' to me when you die of infection!'** Toothless spat a spark at the ground to signal that this encounter was over.

**'I'd rather die from infection than live a life owing you a debt!'**

**'THAT CAN BE ARRANGED!'** Any sympathy Toothless may have had for the female was quickly forgotten in his boiling anger.

The two Night Furies charged at each other. Had the female been in full health they would have been an even match. Her injury gave Toothless the advantage. The young Alpha was easily able to overpower her. They blew three plasma bolts at each other, all hitting at exactly the same time. The small explosion in the middle of the cave caused nearby stalagmites to crumble on impact. Toothless tried charging at the female head-on, but even injured, she was able to quickly evade the attack. The male Night Fury was impressed at her stamina, but there was no way he was losing this match. He was too angry. The two dragons tackled each other and rolled a few meters as their massive bodies met. Toothless dominatingly topped the female and harshly pinned her to the rocky cave ground.

The female Night Fury roared and thrashed, determined not to be dominated by someone like him. **'Get off! NO!'**

Toothless sneered through his teeth. He was _so_ angry! He would show this arrogant female her place once and for all! The Alpha raised a paw to her neck. His anger and natural instincts were overpowering his mind at the moment. He was about to bite into her neck when he caught sight of their reflection in a small pool. At that moment the red-hot anger he felt melted away into horror. He whimpered softly and looked down.

Toothless had not been around his own kind for so long that he had completely forgotten the ways Night Furies went about mating.

A male challenging a female to a contest was like … how did Hiccup put it …? Asking her out on a date? If the male won the contest by pinning the female to the ground, then marked her as his, then the two dragons became mates for life.

Toothless looked down at the female under his paws. Her eyes and teeth were clenched shut. She was shaking and whimpering quietly. He could see that she did not want this. Toothless knew that her fear was not of death, but of being mated to him by force.

Being forced into a mating that a dragon did not want was a terrible thing. Toothless knew full well what a forced mate-ship was like. His own sire had somehow tricked his mother into a mating. Toothless remembered how frightened his mother had been of his sire. Almost as frightened as much as this female was of Toothless. The young Alpha had promised himself that if he were ever given another chance with a mate, he would not force it.

**'What are you waiting for? Do it already!'**

Toothless looked at her quivering form with sorrow and disgust. How could he become something so horrible? His time with the humans, and his short time as Alpha had altered the way he approached situations, as opposed to how he had been taught throughout hatchling-hood: take by force. No, he had already caused one tragedy; he was not going to cause another.

With that thought in mind, he slowly removed his paw from the female's neck. He then retreated from her all together.

When the female Night Fury had realized that the young Alpha had let her go, he had backed away from her about five meters. She studied his facial expression. His pupils expanded and his gorgeous peridot (_where did that thought come from? And why do they look so familiar?_) eyes held such sadness in them. His obsidian scales lightened just a tad, to the darkest gray, signaling his distress. The female dragon watched as Toothless kept backing away. This was very odd behavior for a dominating male Dark, like him. She stood up, rising on her shaky legs and raised a brow at the male's behavior.

Toothless finally looked up at her with such anguish in his innocent eyes. **'I … I'm s-sorry …'**

This apology caught the female Dark off guard. She was about to demand to know why he was playing such games, when he quickly ran off, never looking back.

* * *

><p>"Toothless! Toothless! You big toddler, where are you?!" Hiccup had looked all over Berk for his best friend for over two hours. He had finished his work early and had hoped to get a good flight in while there was still daylight left. However when he turned around he discovered that his dragon was absent. The young Chief did not worry too much, at first. The Night Fury often went around the island a few times with Cloudjumper to make sure there were no quarrels that needed to be stopped (<em>they happened more often than Toothless would like …<em>). But when Hiccup spotted the Stormcutter up in the air with Valka on his back, that was when the worry kicked in. He knew that Toothless could take care of himself, but Hiccup was still uncomfortable not knowing where his dragon was when he was alone. "Toothless, c'mon! I'm not playing anymore!" Hiccup had hoped that last comment would bring the giant kitten out of his hiding place. When nothing happened the young Chief's worry doubled. Usually Toothless knew when to take a hint and stop his antics. "Okay, now I'm getting scared …" He mumbled to himself. "Tooth—"

Just then the large, ebony dragon emerged from the forest. He ran up to Hiccup, almost knocking him over.

"Toothless!" The young man exclaimed with a smile. He was fully ready to give the Night Fury a long lecture on running off, when he noticed the distressed look in his best friend's eyes. They were filled with fear and anxiety. "What's wrong?" Hiccup asked. The only answer Toothless gave was a few whimpers and pitiful groans. He looked back into the forest with a tense gaze.

Hiccup could not understand the frantic moves and noises that his dragon was making. All he really noticed was that Toothless kept looking back to where he had appeared, he kept taking deep breaths and his scales were more of a dark gray color just like earlier that morning. Another thing that Hiccup noticed was that Toothless' frills kept moving frantically, something that only happened when the Night Fury was extremely troubled. Clearly something had spooked him.

Hiccup placed his hand on Toothless' head. "Too—"

Toothless screeched in shock when he felt the touch. The Alpha dragon crouched; ready to attack the threat, when he saw that it was only Hiccup. Then he relaxed, a bit. "Buddy, what's the matter?"

Toothless shook himself. **'N-nothing …' **He replied, glancing back to the forest.

Hiccup followed his gaze. "Something in the forest?" He really wanted to know what was wrong. The young man had never seen Toothless like this, jumpy and on edge. Before he could walk too close to the forest Toothless stopped him by stepping in front of his path. "What?"

Toothless shook himself again. **'Forget it. Let's just go flying.'** He then gestured to the sky, which Hiccup quickly picked up on.

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><p><em>End of Chapter<em>


End file.
